About Kimberly

Hello, family history friends – I’m Kimberly. Thanks for visiting Genealogy Pals!

Kimberly Starr

Kimberly C. Starr is a writer and Registered Nurse. She graduated from BYU in 2007 with her Bachelor of Science. While at BYU she took extra classes in Genealogy.

Email: [email protected]

Gender: female

Job Title: Genealogy Pals Co-Founder

My Genealogy Story

I grew up watching my parents do family history on super old-school programs that printed out pedigrees on that old-school paper with tear-off strips with holes on both sides. Before that, my grandparents did genealogy research and used old-school genealogy pedigree books – books I have and cherish to this day.

While growing up, I was taught a lot about genealogy, family history work, and indexing at various church functions. Some of it stuck – enough that while I was at Brigham Young University (getting my undergraduate degree in Nursing), I took some genealogy classes.

I’ve also regularly attended family history classes that are offered at my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One time while taking these courses, I was able to find an uncle (who had died as a baby) that had been left off most family pedigrees. I also found newspaper clippings about my great grandfather, who worked at the University of Utah and helped build it.

In 2013, I started blogging and writing about my experiences, including a few amazing findings from my genealogy and stories of others’ family histories. However, my original blog is now defunct – and I’ve improved all those original stories for republication here.

As I continue to work on family history, genealogical research, and discovering who I am by learning about my history, I’m excited by what I find. I’m humbled by stories of faith, encouraged by the courage and dedication of my predecessors, and I sorrow with stories of loss and heartache.

Part of the reason I love researching all of this is because of how I grew up. Another part of it is because I want to better understand who I am and where I came from. And because of limited access to certain areas of my family and some crazy circumstances, this research is my best chance at discovering the answers I seek.

Using this site, I’m able to answer my own questions – and the questions that are commonly asked by everyone else. And by partnering with my friend Breanne (click here to read about her), we’re able to tap into her skills as a genealogist (okay, genealogist-in-training) in addition to my own hobbyist level skills and knowledge.

So with all of this in mind, this website is designed to pass on the information, tips, advice, and experience I’ve picked up over the years. I’ve gained this experience as a mom, a nurse, and a genealogy/family history fan.

In order to keep all of this information free and available to everyone who needs genealogy help, we do use ads on this site. Using ads and passive marketing means we can keep sharing the information for free, rather than charging fees. The ads aren’t there to spite you, but rather as a necessity – so thanks for understanding.

All of the links, products, and companies we recommend on this site are ones we trust and use. If, for any reason, you do have a problem with any of them, please email us at [email protected] – that email reaches both me and Breanne. That way we can look into it, contact the company, and/or remove the link if needed.

I really hope you enjoy what we’ve put together here for you. Please let me know if you have any questions, suggestions, comments, concerns, or emotional outbursts. I’d love to know how I can improve this website and online resources.

And if this has helped you in any way? I’d especially love to hear and share it!

Kimberly

My Personal Story

I live in a small town north of Salt Lake City, Utah with my husband, our four kids, and our pets. We enjoy gardening, doing way too many projects, reading, camping, playing video and board games as a family, laughing and being together. We’re a bunch of average homebodies and introverts – and it’s the best life ever.

My husband and I met at church – he was the Sunday school teacher and I was impressed by both his faith and his good looks. We went on a few dates, went skydiving together, and he proposed a few months later.

Together, we spend all of our time with our four kids (we have three boys and then our youngest is a girl). Being parents is all of the emotions, but especially amazing.

I love doing genealogy, learning new things, reading, being a nurse, making people laugh, and writing. I’m still deciding what I want to be when I “grow up,” but my nursing humor still manages to escape at inappropriate times – like at dinner last night with the family. Sorry, guys!

That’s me in a nutshell.

My Bucket List

  • Fall in love and get married (I fell in love but I’m still falling)
  • Be a wife and mom (DONE but by no means complete – I love my family!)
  • Be on TV (DONE! I was on several TV shows as a child – a variety show called Wallace and Lladmo and an educational show about the human brain where I held an actual brain – I always knew I was destined to go into the medical field!)
  • Be in a movie (DONE! While at BYU, I had a speaking part in a student film that was published to YouTube – and it got me onto the IMDB)
  • Skydive (DONE! My husband and I went skydiving on a date before we got married)
  • Travel the World – it’s a work in progress.
    • See Ireland
    • See Mexico (DONE! I’ve been to several parts and I loved eating tacos from the local stands that tourists don’t usually get to see)
    • See New Zealand
  • Go camping in every state in the United States of America
  • Complete a sprint triathlon (COMPLETE! I’ve done the TriathaMom sprint several times now)
  • Write a book

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